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AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

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Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#11

Post by inferiorhuman »

I'm pretty sure Verizon is doing similar things with their copper infrastructure on the East Coast – they've more or less abandoned it in favor of fiber in certain regions. For anyone curious, Camp Seco is not a particularly remote part of California but it is pretty sparsely populated. It's about an hour outside of Sacramento and Stockton according to Google maps.

I wonder if AT&T will ever get the bright idea to try this in a more populated area (like the Bay Area). The condo I'm in now has underground utilities. Sonic's abandoned DSL and their rebranded AT&T fiber. If they ever roll out fiber, the HOA's on the hook to trench from the street and to each of the buildings because Sonic cannot / will not use another utility's conduit. The phone wiring predates twisted pair, and I'm betting the coax is equally antique. High speed internet? Yeah, right.

Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#12

Post by ijhuygft776 »

jacquesm wrote: post #5
pkaye wrote: post #3

If someone wants to remove the old lines from the pole to the house, who would do that now? I don't use my landline anymore and trying to cleanup the clutter of old lines.

Wirecutters should do the job I think?

legally, maybe not, but in my experience, every time you reactivate the service, they ask to replace that wire from the street to the home even if they don't need to so that they can overcharge ATT/customer... they even often try to replace the existing box on your house with an extra huge one for no practical reason.

Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#13

Post by pizzafeelsright »

Related, I am not sure how to teach a toddler to call 911.

My cell is locked and I'm not giving them the pin or face.

Without a land line I am considering an exterior alarm wired to an inside panic button. In the evert I collapse from choking on a banana slug what does my toddler do? So far the I instructions are to ring the trusted neighbors.

Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#14

Post by sokoloff »

Animats wrote: post #4

That's going to be hard for people on criminal home confinement. Those anklets connect to a base station that connects only to an analog land line. Most of those things are obsolete technology.

Do they not work with an ATA (VoIP to POTS adapter)? If not currently, is this a technical matter (can’t work) or an administrative matter (detectable and not permitted)?

Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#15

Post by inferiorhuman »

ijhuygft776 wrote: post #2

Didn't they get paid too much by the government to install those lines?

Probably. Camp Seco is an old mining town. However, it looks like there's some EBMUD land out there. Would be interesting to see if they could be goaded into maintaining comms infrastructure. Certainly there are going to be some utility employees out there doing whatever.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.2270377,-120.8562145,3a,90y,...

Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#16

Post by markild »

pizzafeelsright wrote: post #13

Related, I am not sure how to teach a toddler to call 911. My cell is locked and I'm not giving them the pin or face. Without a land line I am considering an exterior alarm wired to an inside panic button. In the evert I collapse from choking on a banana slug what does my toddler do? So far the I instructions are to ring the trusted neighbors.

Absolutely every cell phone has the ability to call emergency numbers from a locked device. Even without Sim card.

Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#17

Post by jacquesm »

ijhuygft776 wrote: post #12
jacquesm wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wirecutters should do the job I think?

legally, maybe not, but in my experience, every time you reactivate the service, they ask to replace that wire from the street to the home even if they don't need to so that they can overcharge ATT/customer... they even often try to replace the existing box on your house with an extra huge one for no practical reason.

Sure, but if you're 100% certain that you will never use their service again that's not such a huge issue. I did the same with a power line on my Canadian property where they kept that line powered up even if I wasn't using the service because we were all on solar and wind. They didn't want to send someone out to take out the road side fuse. I called them and asked them who would be liable if due to their refusal to power down the line someone would get injured and they sent someone out immediately :)

That wasn't a theoretical risk by the way, the first stretch of that line must have been many decades old.

Algoma Power... no love lost between us.

Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#18

Post by dilyevsky »

pizzafeelsright wrote: post #13

Related, I am not sure how to teach a toddler to call 911. My cell is locked and I'm not giving them the pin or face. Without a land line I am considering an exterior alarm wired to an inside panic button. In the evert I collapse from choking on a banana slug what does my toddler do? So far the I instructions are to ring the trusted neighbors.

Emergency calls must work in locked mode (i think by law). On iphone its two button press and a swipe - def easier than operating a rotary phone from when i was a toddler

Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#19

Post by foolfoolz »

beenBoutIT wrote: post #10

Have California cell networks gotten to the point where they'll be able to handle the mass calling that follows disasters? Curious how people will contact emergency services and friends/family in the critical time following an earthquake/fire/etc.

for the most part, things are much better than they were 10 years ago. you can go to a baseball/football game and your phone works. you can go to a concert and your phone works. a big part of this has been capacity upgrades, protocol upgrades, and a shift from telecom traffic to internet traffic

it has always been difficult to contact emergency services following an earthquake / massive fire. it might actually be more scalable now. and you have more options of who/how to contact

Re: AT&T applies to end obligation to service landlines in California

#20

Post by c2lsZW50 »

pizzafeelsright wrote: post #13

Related, I am not sure how to teach a toddler to call 911. My cell is locked and I'm not giving them the pin or face. Without a land line I am considering an exterior alarm wired to an inside panic button. In the evert I collapse from choking on a banana slug what does my toddler do? So far the I instructions are to ring the trusted neighbors.

On android you can dial emergency lines on a locked phone as well from the lock screen, I suppose iOS has the same function?
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